Boy, six, twice left stranded following school bus mix-ups

A SIX-YEAR-OLD boy was left stranded after being put on the wrong school bus – twice in the space of six months.

Last October, the Aedan Bruce was left crying and alone in a small village after he was put on the wrong bus home.

At the time his mother Erin, 29, decided to give the school a second chance after reassurances that the mistake was a one-off.

But last week her son was put on the wrong bus for a second time – forcing him to wander the streets for 20 minutes until another parent found him.

Aedan Bruce was left crying and alone after being put on the wrong bus

And now Erin is threatening to remove her son from school unless action is taken.

The 6-year-old from Dunfermline, Fife, attends St Margaret’s Primary School – less than two miles away from his house.

On Mondays and Tuesdays he gets a bus home, and for the rest of the week he catches another bus to Townhill – a local village – where his mother picks him up.

Erin, who works as a hairdresser, said: “The first time, he never got off the bus home.

“I called the school and they insisted he had been put on the right one, but it turned out he’d been put on the bus to Townhill.

“He was found crying at the corner of the bus stop by passers-by but it could have been anybody. We spent 40 minutes not having a clue where he was.

“This time he should have been on the bus to Townhill because it was a Wednesday but they put him on the one home.

This is the second time the youngster has experienced a mix-up

“He walked to the house and nobody was there, so he walked to my mum’s house and my friend’s house but nobody was in there either.

“He’d been walking about on his own for 20 minutes before another parent found him and phoned the school.”

She added: “There are only two helpers at the school putting the kids onto five different buses.

“They line them up in the playground and then walk with them to the bus park which is about five minutes away and next to a main road.

“I wouldn’t imagine two people is enough for sixty kids. There needs to be more.

“The school did apologise but they also tried to blame Aedan for what happened. He’s only six.”

She has even threatened to remove her son from the school if nothing is done but added: “It’s the only catholic school in the area so we don’t want to have to move him.

“He’s settled in really well and he is receiving a good education. It’s just the service they provide at the end of the day and the lack of communication.

“We don’t want to remove him from school but if it happened again we’d have to.”

The entrance to the primary school

After the first incident, Erin took to Facebook to try and track down the kind strangers.

Writing on a local page, she said: “My five-year-old son was put on the wrong bus tonight and ended up in Townhill.

“Two women, a man and a small child saw him upset and phoned the police. They also stayed with him until they arrived.

“I’d like to find these people to thank them.”

Sarah Else, Fife council education officer, said: “We have taken this incident very seriously and I have spoken to the child’s mother personally to assure her we will be taking appropriate action.

“Following a similar incident in October, an investigation was carried out and a protocol put in place to avoid this happening again.

“We are still looking into the circumstances surrounding this recent incident. We will work with the school and the family to make sure that any necessary further changes to these procedures are put in place as soon as possible.”